Apprentice Bookbinder

European Marbling Workshop with Nancy French

One of the last workshops I took in summer was a European Marbling workshop taught by Nancy French for the local CBBAG chapter. Her website is here: http://www.lindenleapaper.ca/

Nancy uses acrylics for her colors and so that is what we used during the workshop. It was a very basic introduction to the art. First, we got all set up. This meant we had to fill the marbling trays with a solution made from water and carrageenan. Carrageenan is an extract from boiled seaweed. It’s this solution that allows the paint to float on the surface of the water so it can be transferred to the paper once we place it down.

Here are a few photos from our setup:

After that Nancy walked us through some patterns and explained how to make them. Then we were given free reign to play around and try things out!

In the photos below you can see the process of marbling, first paint is added to the bath either by flicking it on seen in the first photos or by dropping it on with an eyedropper and then combing it (seen in the last two photos). Once the color is on a paper is slowly lowered onto the bath and then taken off after it’s been laid down all the way. After this the paper is rinsed and then hung to dry.

Here are some of the patterns we learned:

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And here is some of the paper I marbled:

Here is one that I had fun with, playing around trying to create a galaxy look:

And here is the very first paper I did, which has a hesitation line from when I accidentally released the paper rather than holding it in place the entire time while lowering it. I love the way it turned out.

Sorry for the short post, it’s been a bit busy around here. I will continue to aim for a post every two weeks!